Turning Work Into Worship

Three principles for pursuing our work in a way that is worthy of the gospel as a pattern of worship.

Do the math: you’re going to spend most of your time for most of your life working. To put it into round numbers, multiply forty hours a week by forty years. That adds up. And it isn’t just the quantity of the time, it’s the quality. We don’t just give time to our work, we give our energy. Our best hours of our best years—working.

Some of you work in the marketplace for a company.
Some of you work in the marketplace and run your own company.
Some of you work in education.
Some of you work in a non-profit.
Some of you work in medicine.
Some of you work in the home, raising kids and managing the household.
Some of you work in a trade.

A Short Theology of Work

All of us have worked, do work, will work. God designed work as a good in the world. He created us in his image and called to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it,” as we “rule” over the rest of the creation as the stewards of God’s kingship (Gen. 1:26-28). Before humanity’s fall into sin, God called us to work: “The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15). Work is not a curse upon us. Work is a gift to us.

So why does work feel like a curse and a burden? Because of the curse of sin. Rebellion against God’s intention turned work wonky. Now our work is difficult and unfruitful: “The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust” (Genesis 3:17-19).

This curse upon the world and our work is part of what God heals in his redeeming work in Jesus Christ. Work becomes worship as we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship” (Romans 12:1). Worship is not merely what we do on Sunday, but what we do every day, including the 9 to 5 grind of Monday through Friday. If this is true, then we must cultivate ways to turn work into worship in the daily rhythms of our lives. We must pursue principles for doing our work to the glory of God, in line with God’s purposes for our work.

The book of Daniel helps us here. In his mid-teens, he was deported from his home and his family, and he remained faithful to God while in Babylon. He was put into a three-year reeducation program: “They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king” (1:5). When we find him at the end of this three years, we discover that this reeducation camp has actually become a vocational training program. Like so many of us, he finished his education and entered the marketplace. In that space, we find three principles for pursuing our work in a way that is worthy of the gospel as a pattern of worship.

Three Ways Work Becomes Worship

1. Grace

The x-factor is the giving of God. When Daniel and his friends enter the workforce, Daniel tells us that the secret in the sauce was grace: “God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom” (Daniel 1:17).

God gave. This is the most important phrase in the story. It’s repeated from Daniel 1:9. There God gave favor to the four dudes, and here he gives them wisdom. God gave is the most important phrase in the book, and it’s the most important phrase in the human experience. The world is nothing, literally nothing, without the grace and giving of God. God gives life to the world and life to us in the world. The famous stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are about the giving grace of God. Yes, the faithfulness of the four young men is a lesson to us, but the faithfulness of the One God is breath for us. Throughout his book, Daniel refers to God as literally “the God,” reminding us that this is the one true and living God. God gave these four the ability to excel in their training, like he did with Moses (Acts 7:22) and Solomon (1 Kings 4:30).

God gives Daniel an extra measure of this grace: “Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind” (Daniel 1:17). “Daniel also understood” is a Hebrew causative verb. Literally, “Daniel was caused to become intelligent.” God causes Daniel’s ability and insight, and the stories of Daniel’s life narrate him putting this gift to use for the glory of God. It might escape us, but pause and realize: Daniel is writing this. Daniel knows that all that he has a gift. Is this prideful? No. Humility isn’t being naive to your giftings or pretending you don’t have what you have. Instead, humility acknowledges that you didn’t cause your gift, but you received it! One of my favorite theologians is the African pastor from the 400s, Augustine, who served in what is modern-day Algeria. Augustine is in the running for the most brilliant person who ever lived. When you’re that smart, you’re smart enough to know that you’re smart. Augustine recognized that he was intellectually gifted beyond his fellow students and colleagues. He wrestles with this in his autobiography, the Confessions. He meditates on his abilities, and repeats this verse: “For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?” (1 Cor 4:7). Humility recognizes that anything we have is a gift, and bragging about it is foolish.

God has gifted you uniquely. The first step toward turning your daily work into worship is recognizing the grace and gift of God in making you good at certain things. Assess yourself: what has God given to you? What desires has he put into your heart? What skills has he given to your hands? He loves to watch you develop those things, just like I love seeing my kids develop what he’s given to them. Our middle-school daughter Adalyn is creative and has a beautiful voice for singing. Our fourth-grade son Judson is tenacious and athletic. Our first-grader Livi is pretty and precise and inquisitive. God wants you to fan into flame the gift that is in you, as Paul told Timothy to do (2 Timothy 1:6).

Christian business consultant Patrick Lencioni argues that everyone has a “working genius,” something they’re good at and thrive in. Sometimes we think that our calling and our work has to be what we don’t like and what we’re not good at. But generally God wires us a certain way so that we can use those gifts for his glory. So discover the grace God has given to you.

Maybe you can teach.
Maybe you can sell.
Maybe you can organize and lead.
Maybe you can create.
Maybe you can invest.

Turn work into worship by recognizing your gift, and acknowledging that it is in fact a gift from God, a grace to you, for his glory.

2. Excellence

The second principle for turning work into worship and pursuing your vocation for the glory of God is to do what you do with excellence. Daniel’s story shows us two principles of excellence: preparation and execution.

First, the principle of preparation. Daniel and his friends finished the three years of training: “At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar” (Daniel 1:18). They had leaned into the season, without compromising their integrity. They had prepared for the calling God had for them, even when it was not the calling they had anticipated. “Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people” (Colossians 3:22-23). Our work is mostly done in the quiet, unseen places, where we’re planning and preparing. We see here an example of leaning into the season we’re in. You might be in a training season, a season of preparation. Don’t rush into the next season. Instead, do what you do for the glory of God from the heart, because excellence in preparation leads to excellence in execution. I’ve seen the value of this in my own journey into ministry. I wanted to teach the Bible and be a pastor, but I had a season of almost four years where I was mostly training. I was in seminary, learning and growing, laying a foundation of four years, for a ministry of forty years if the Lord wills.

Second, the principle of execution. After the four finished the appointed training, they got to work: “At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend the king. In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and mediums in his entire kingdom” (Daniel 1:19-20). The four dudes finish their training, and then go in for their evaluation. Like a law student taking the bar exam, they stand before the king. We’ve all been there in the interview process. We’ve had good interviews and bad ones. These four interview with the king, and they knock it out of the park. They have no equal. They’re ten times better than everyone else. These four boys were made exceptional by the gifting of God. Like Joseph before them who impressed Pharaoah with his gifting (Genesis 41:37-39), these four lived out the standard that the Bible calls us to to work as to the Lord. Christian workers should be the best workers the organization. Imagine two Christian workers. One is usually a few minutes late, spends work time talking about theology, having to be prodded by his supervisor to accomplish his tasks. The other is early, works hard and doesn’t have time for small talk while on the clock, and is the first person chosen to lead and take charge of needed assignments. Which one is a better witness to the gospel for the glory of God? Which one is truly turning work into worship?

3. Endurance

“Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus” (Daniel 1:21). The first year of King Cyrus was 66 years after he was deported from his idyllic childhood in an influential family in Jerusalem. Daniel never went home. Cyrus was the king who conquered Babylon, signaling the beginning of the end of the exile (Ezra 1:1-2, Isaiah 45:1, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). Among other things, scholars have pointed out, this means that Daniel outlived his Babylonian oppressors.

If you’re in a workplace that’s difficult or hostile, don’t give up. God may have you there for a purpose, and you might outlast your adversaries. Current research on work has shown the value of endurance. In her work on “grit,” Angela Duckworth says, “Grit is passion and perseverance toward very long-term goals. Grit is stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I’m constantly amazed at how I see folks who got a job in college or high school at a company, stayed with that company, and have become important leaders in that company. My dad started in sales at a tire store chain, eventually booming a store manager, then a district manager before working in his own shop. Another friend started working as a bag boy at a grocery store in high school, and now he manages a large store.

Daniel had a holy grittiness, a passion and perseverance for God’s purpose for him. His relationship with God and his faith in God’s purposes gave him the stamina to stand for seventy years in the service of the rulers of the world. So too, a mark of Christian workers should be endurance. We should passionately persevere for goals that aren’t just long-term but eternal-term. Endurance doesn’t mean you necessarily don’t even change jobs, companies, or even careers. It does mean that you don’t quit before you’re called to quit and released by the Lord who put you there. It means you don’t start mailing in your effort because you’re frustrated or tired. It means you, like Daniel, might never go home.

So find your gifting. As Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Take an assessment if you need too, or ask around. It’s probably clear to those who know you what you’re good at. Embrace your season. And, maybe, don’t send that resignation email just yet.

Worship didn’t end at noon on Sunday. It’s Monday morning, and worship is just getting started.